Star Trek / Green Lantern #6 Review

“Nothing about this is logical”

IDW’s Star Trek and Green Lantern crossover has been a fun ride thus far with writer Mike Johnson doing a wonderful job a balancing both franchises and giving their fans plenty to enjoy. With Nekron now commanding an army of Black Lantern Vulcans the limited series enters the final chapter and the concern as always is whether the conclusion of the story will be good or not. While I think that this issue could have used some more pages to breath, despite the rushed nature it does a fine job of wrapping up loose ends….and leaving room for a sequel.

The issue starts out with the meeting that I was most interested in as Spock encounters the Black Lantern version of his mother, Amanda, who was killed when Vulcan was destroyed in the 2009 continuity altering cinematic reboot. Unfortunately the scene plays flatter than I’d hoped and what could have been a powerful scene between Spock’s only link to his human heritage is cut short. The resolution is also not what I’d hoped for with Spock not being the one to make the hard decisions.

Spock gets to see his mother again….well, not quite.

While I wasn’t so keen on that part of the issue the rest of the conclusion was very satisfying. With Kyle Rayner out of the picture it’s up to the ring bearers and the crew of the Enterprise to find someone who’s able to master all the rings long enough to summon the White Entity. Johnson chooses to ignore Hal Jordan’s ability to wield the white ring as he did in Blackest Night in favor of making sure to include the Star Trek cast in a major way which I’m all in favor of in this instance as the choice of who finally saves the day was most….logical.

There is one element that does remain very illogical as well. With the DC Universe destroyed and the central power batteries with it – what powers the rings now? The ring bearers may have their personal batteries but at some point they will run dry. The issue is never raised and for fans unfamiliar with the Green Lantern side of this equation it may be a non-point, but for the rest of us it’s something that leaves you scratching your head.

Johnson makes some bold decisions in the conclusion of Spectrum War, having the luxury of not having to really worry about the impact it has on either franchise. This out of continuity story results in a number of deaths, not the least of all is the entire DC Universe which does not get resurrected as one might have expected. I had to chuckle to myself with the issue’s solicitation that said “Don’t miss the shocking events that will change the future of both franchises forever!” since everything that happens in this story will have zero impact on either the Star Trek or Green Lantern universes. However we do have a whole new universe created as a result.

Now Sinestro isn’t the only pointy eared ring bearer left alive

With no home to go back to it leaves only a handful of ring bearers left to carry on and find a home in a new reality, including Sinestro, Larfleeze and Atrocitus who make sure that they are long gone before anyone can track them down. There certainly could be other lanterns out there to be exploited should we see a sequel and having the DC characters already in this alternate reality certainly relieves any future writer from having to come up with another way to get the universes to cross again.

I do hope they get another chance to share the same pages some time down the road. Most times these mashups fail to live up to the potential that they have but in this case I think IDW served both properties well. I do think this final issue was rushed and could have benefited greatly by having a few more pages to serve up the finale but as a whole this miniseries was a huge success in my opinion, cliched final page and all.

Artistically the issue is as consistent as the whole series has been. Angel Hernandez and David Williams’ work has been pretty solid since the first issue and this final chapter is on par with what we’ve come to expect from this event. There are few high points in the story that could have benefited the art team had they been given more room to do something on a larger scale, but again with the chapter squeezed into a regular sized issue they didn’t have the page count to allow for any full page spreads.

Star Trek / Green Lantern: The Spectrum War ends with a bang, albeit one that seems a bit rushed and which would have benefited by getting a plus sized issue. Mike Johnson provides a rewarding conclusion which doesn’t end with a giant reset button, instead setting the stage for a hopeful sequel in a new universe where starships and people with power rings now coexist. Eight phaser charged lanterns out of ten.

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